Just like 2018, the next year promises to be full of ups and downs for all cryptocurrencies. That means there's still an opportunity to get rich — you just need to make the right bets. Due to recent Bitcoin fluctuations, traders' stakes turn the tables in favor of the altcoins with a strong technical backup. What are the best cryptocurrencies to invest in 2019? Here are the most promising blockchains and companies behind them.

Bitcoin and Ethereum Investments: Does It Make Sense?

The chances that Bitcoin will make its previous 1,000% rise are minor: the cryptocurrency community admits there are more technologically advanced alternatives. New altcoins pop up every day, and their developers keep surprising audiences with innovative features and the technological supremacy of their solutions. Although the bearish tendency of the market seems to subside a little, no one can guarantee that the Bitcoin price can break its previous records and hit $20,000 again.

What about Ethereum? It is still potent and promising, but there are many competitors coming up with more agile and sophisticated blockchains. Some companies are already shifting from Ethereum to Neo and platforms alike.

1. EOS: Ethereum's Number One Rival

Of all Ethereum's competitors, EOS seems to be the most technologically advanced platform. Why? First and foremost, it removes the main barrier for developers — the Solidity language (it's the only means of programming in Ethereum). Instead of it, EOS users have access to databases and instruments along with other numerous services, which means no knowledge of programming languages is required at all.

To top it off, EOS is more flexible than many other similar platforms: no gas fees are charged because 21 gatekeepers process the transactions. The coin isn't mined; it's produced by certain users elected by the community.

EOS has all the chances to become an advanced, popular blockchain platform, so don't miss your opportunity to buy it for $1.68.

Advantages of EOS blockchain

2. Ripple: 2nd Coin After BTC

Slowly but steadily, Ripple has made its way to the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap after Bitcoin. However, it works with completely different principles. Ripple was created for large financial institutions rather than individual users: this cryptocurrency serves to facilitate cross-border payments, making them strikingly fast and cheap (a transaction costs a fraction of cent). Ripple Labs received huge support from corporate investors (such as Google), and now this cryptocurrency is being introduced by Asian banks and financial institutions around the world. We have already discussed that Ripple is unlikely to reach $100, but it is expected to reach the $1 threshold in the nearest future — its price is $0.29.

How does the Ripple blockchain work? It processes transactions between banks

3. Stellar Lumens: Makes the Perks of Ripple Available to a Wide Audience

Unlike Ripple, Stellar is designed to facilitate cross-border payments for individual users. While such payment processing giants as PayPal charge 5% fees for transactions, Stellar has only a $0.01 fee for 600,000 transactions! The processing speed is 5 seconds per transaction, which is quite agreeable. Moreover, the platform solves the issue of energy consumption that plagues Bitcoin and a few other blockchains. The proprietary Stellar Consensus Protocol is used to process operations instead of Proof of Work. The Stellar team has already partnered up with a few tech top dogs, such as IBM, so it enjoys enormous support from corporate investors.

4. Tron

Why consider TRX? TRON recently acquired BitTorrent, which allows for developing safe decentralized torrenting methods in the future. For example, such innovations can help us to distribute files across a network and re-assemble them for user downloading.

Another one of TRON’s advantage is that it’s one of a few ERC20 tokens that have made it to MainNet. Although TRON’s growth isn’t as rapid as Ethereum’s, it has 300,000 accounts so far. At the moment, 1 TRX is worth $0.013, so it’s a good investment for traders with a shoestring budget.

5. Litecoin

One of Bitcoin’s main alternatives, Litecoin has made it to the Top-10 cryptocurrencies by market cap: it has reached a $1.45 bln capitalization and now is the 9th coin on the list. LTC has the average block mining time of 2.5 minutes against Bitcoin’s 10 minutes. Besides, it’s one of the big four on Coinbase.

Litecoin vs Bitcoin – main differences

While Bitcoin requires 95% of miners to signal that they support SegWit for activation, Litecoin requires only 75%. The lowering of the consensus threshold makes it easier for Litecoin to attract active investors. At the moment, Litecoin costs $26.15 — it’s been through ups and downs, but the cryptocurrency community believes in its potential.

6. IOTA

IOTA cryptocurrency was designed for the Internet of Things. It has four key advantages over other coins:

It’s scalable.

It’s fully decentralized.

Users aren’t charged fees.

It’s modular.

The technological secret underlying IOTA’s success is the Tangle. While Bitcoin uses a blockchain environment to maintain the ledger, IOTA’s Tangle is a directed acyclic graph (DAG). Such a system solves the problems of scalability and transaction fees. The sender performs some kind of proof of work and approves two transactions. Thus, the higher the number of users is, the faster transaction speed they can enjoy. To top it off, IOTA has a lot of applications.

Considering the fact that the number of Internet-driven devices is expected to reach 30 bln gadgets by 2020, and the market cap will be around $7.1 trillion, IOTA has a lot of potential, even though there’s a serious competitor – the IOTW startup.

Key differences between IOTA and IOTW

7. BAT

Basic Attention Token (BAT) was founded by tech specialists from all over the world. This token is designed for content creators, publishers, their audience, and advertisers. For example, users can donate to content creators in BAT currency, or get BAT rewards for watching advertisements. BAT is supposed to be used in the Brave browser, which repels malware and protects users’ privacy while surfing the web. With this browser, users will enjoy the content they like without annoying ads and ISPs selling their personal information.

At the moment, BAT is worth $0.14. The cryptocurrency is expected to start growing in a year or so.

8. Zcash

Even those who don’t use the darknet for making purchases will definitely like the idea behind Zcash: this blockchain is created for people who want their transactions to remain private. That adds the value to the coin from an investment standpoint, and it will only grow as the darknet continues evolving. Recently, the Zcash team has introduced technical improvements that will reduce the memory consumption of transaction privacy by 98%.

Add to that such facts as:

Coinbase recently called Zcash one of the coins with great potential.

Users’ transaction data can be revealed selectively.

Due to some similarities with Bitcoin, Zcash can become a store of value down the road.

At the moment, Zcash costs $59.5 and is the 19th cryptocurrency in the global rating.

9. Monero

A great alternative to Zcash, Monero is also used in the darknet market (for this reason, Coinbase isn’t likely to add it soon). The Monero blockchain boasts thought-through transaction schemes that involve ring signatures and stealth addresses that keep transactions private. Like Bitcoin, Monero also has the proof of work verification standard: it means there’s always value behind XMR. Aside from that, Monero has strong community support because it’s based on the principles of decentralization and privacy — those are the key values for investors and traders.

Monero’s key advantages are as follows:

It has a superior mining algorithm. It’s designed so that ASICs wouldn’t have much technological superiority over usual computers owned by average users. It means that mining Monero would be simple for any user. Due to the absence of an entry barrier, Monero attracts more participants to fuel its development.

Adaptive block size limit. Monero blocks are produced every 2 minutes, and the adaptive block size limit means that users will be automatically able to handle the future increase of transactions by expanding the block size automatically.

I2P protects users from passive network monitoring, so nobody can say whether you use Monero at all.

The 12th cryptocurrency by market cap, Monero (XMR) costs $46.6. There are over 180 contributors supporting this blockchain, so it has all the chances to grow in value.

10. Skycoin

The blockchain behind Skycoin was designed to replace Bitcoin and Ethereum altogether. It has a well-developed infrastructure that serves the following purpose:

Aside from it, the Sky-Messenger will be an analog of Telegram, Skype, Wechat, and WhatsApp, while BBS is meant to replace Twitter, Facebook, and Steemit.

All in all, the Skycoin project can become a great alternative to the traditional Internet. At the moment, Skycoin costs $0.92, and it might become one of your wisest investments in 2019.

The Strategy of Choosing a Cryptocurrency to Invest in

How to choose reliable and promising coins for investment? Here are a few recommendations for making smart investments:

Opt for ICOs. This is one of the easiest ways to multiply your riches. For example, had you invested in Neo’s crowdsale, your return would currently be 160,000%, or 5,000% for Populous, or 4,000% for OmiseGo — well, you see that ROI may be astronomic. However, the majority of ICOs fail, so you should research thoroughly.

Check out less popular exchanges. If you missed your chance to invest in an ICO, you can invest once the coin hits the market. During this time, there’s usually a short spike followed by a dump once investors seek short-term gains. This is a great opportunity to buy coins you’re interested in for a low price. Cryptopia and IDEX are perfect places to search for such types of coins.

Track and time important events. This is a short-term strategy and should mostly be used by experienced traders. It’s not a secret that the price of a cryptocurrency rises after some partnership announcements or tech introductions. You can buy cryptocurrency cheaper and sell it for a higher price.

Be in the know. There are thousands of cryptocurrencies that have already hit the market and thousands coming soon. You never know which gems you can stumble upon. Keep tabs on cryptocurrency news, research new projects, follow cryptocurrency Twitter accounts – knowledge is power.

Bottom Line

There’s still a myriad of opportunities to invest in cryptocurrencies that can potentially make you 10-100x returns. However, as you know, cryptocurrencies are very volatile. So before making a move, do your homework: research the cryptocurrency, blockchain, and development team behind it. If you really believe in the fundamentals of the token, the timeframe doesn’t matter. Once you buy the cryptocurrency, get all your patience and wait for when it gets listed on a major exchange.

Our series of cryptocurrencies articles and their predictions for 2019 and beyond is completed with an article about Tron price prediction 2019. We will mention scenarios about coin price forecast. Results of 2018 will also be shown as a starting point of our trx price prediction article.

Results of 2018

At the beginning of January Tron is ranked in the 9th position in top 100 cryptocurrencies in terms of their market capitalization on CoinMarketCap. Tron has a current value of $0.023808, a market capitalization of $1.586.908.038, a volume for the past twenty hours of $121.976.029, circulating supply of 66.631.954.397 TRX and total supply of 99.231.165.008 TRX.

On Jan. 1, 2018, the price of Tron was $0.044682, a peak was formed early in January 2018 at the price of $0.224499 and ever since a decline followed for the remaining of 2018. The current price of $0.023808 represents a decline of 48% compared to the price on Jan. 1, 2018. What experts think and believe about Tron in 2019?

Tron price prediction 2018

Our Tron price prediction for the remaining of 2018 and more specifically for December 2018 in our article called “Tron Price Prediction for December: One-Month Performance of -42.39%, Can This Change?” was that “The current trend is a strong downtrend and if we must make a TRX price prediction for the remaining of 2018 it is in favor of lower prices. What is a potential range for our price prediction? A level of $0.010-$0.08 for the end of 2018.”

The recent rally of Tron for the past twenty-four hours of about 10% and a current price of $0,020729 proved our Tron coin price prediction wrong. Our trx coin price prediction was based on the current downturn which changed direction in the past two weeks. What are now some Tron price predictions for the year 2019?

Tron price prediction 2019

Four Tron coin prediction opinions are presented below as a first approach about what could Tron value be in 2019:

WalletInvestor.com is very pessimistic about the future business prospects of Tron predicting a 1-year forecast value of $0.000330 or a decline of almost 98%. According to this prediction if price is to move to this very low level then the recent rally would be an opportunity to sell the cryptocurrency. Nevertheless, this article is strictly informational and does not provide any trading recommendation.

Smartereum is on the other side with a very different and much wider prediction. They report that analysts are very optimistic about Tron in 2019. Their Tron predictions by the end of 2019 is a price of $12, which is based on fundamental factors, partnerships and advantages, important catalysts for the future price of the cryptocurrency.

CoinSwitch is also very optimistic about the price of Tron in 2019. They have a range of $0.05 - $0.06 for the first two quarters of 2019. By the end of 2019 the price could reach $0.11, which is positive as compared to the last year. In 2019, Tron will have positive effects from two important factors, security and privacy.

TradingBeasts.com has the following trx predictions for 2019. In January an expected price of $0.02 and in December 2019 a minimum price of $0.05, a maximum price of $0.07 and an average price of $0.05.

Tron price forecast 2019

Theoofy.com presents a few alternative scenarios about TRX price prediction in 2019 based on the positive and negative factors such as high trading volume and large circulating supply. There is a wide price range of $0.3-$0.7 for 2019 which is very optimistic as compared to the current price of $0.020662.

An important note is that the assumption of the constant circulating supply. If the supply changes, this will result in the change in market cap and token price. While this is an important note, we would mention the fact that fundamental factors such as business prospects and applications and a wider adoption of the Blockchain technology worldwide would be very important factors to consider. Regulation is also a key driver for the future price of cryptocurrencies.

Tron price prediction 2020

For 2020 TradingBeasts.com forecasts that during January 2020 a minimum price of $0.05, a maximum price of $0.08 and an average price of $0.06 may be expected. By the end of 2020 in December a large price appreciation is expected with minimum, maximum and average prices of $0.21, $0.30 and $0.24 respectively.

CoinSwitch forecasts that in 2020 Tron for the first time could reach the price of $0.4 and that it will be a year high increased volatility compared to 2019. By the end of 2020 a decline of the price is expected from the price level of $0.30 to $0.24 in December 2020. Smartereum has mentioned by 2020, the coin is expected to trade at $52.91.

Tron price prediction 2025

Can we make an accurate forecast five or six years from now about the value of Tron in 2025? Logic says that the further we move into the future the less reliable Tron predictions are. But for informational purposes here are some forecasts and TRX price predictions ranges for 2025. DigitalCoin forecasts that the price of Tron in 2025 will reach a maximum value of $0.10024417 in May. By the end of 2025 in December the price could decline to $0.06084865. Another forecast made by thenexttechs.com is that price could go up to $10-$15. With all these trx price prediction ranges we will conclude with our technical analysis for Tron and a conservative approach with a bullish and a bearish scenario for 2019.

Tron technical analysis for 2019

The optimistic scenario is that the bottom of $0.011 will mark a trend change with a recent uptrend formed and price could move up to the range of $0.035 - $0.051, a range with significant consolidation during 2018. For this to happen the price should close above the declining 200-period exponential moving average with a current figure of $0.0266. It is already a positive factor that price is trading above the 20-period and 50-period daily exponential moving averages. If global regulation issues provide a safer and more reliable environment for the cryptocurrency market in 2019 these price levels may be reached as they are probable and can be considered realistic based on the recent high volatility of the cryptocurrency in 2018.

An important level of resistance is $0.029 which is very close to the current value of the 200-period daily exponential moving average. We do not believe that the high price of $0.10 will be reached in 2019 or in the following years as it would only be feasible due to a higher demand for Tron and speculative momentum. Another crucial reason that could support a price appreciation for Tron in 2019 would be increased interest in ICOs and investments in the Blockchain industry. More capital raised, invested and used for business applications and solutions could send the price of Tron higher than our range of $0.035 - $0.051. Odds are according to our opinion that this most probably will not happen in 2019.

The pessimistic scenario is that price could fall below the recent $0.011 bottom. How low could price go is a tough answer, and a price of $0.0 is certainly a potential price. Without fundamental catalysts a more realistic price in the event price is to decline further would be the range of $0.05 - $0.08.

For now, a consolidation zone of $0.011- $0.028 is evident and at some point, in 2019 a breakout should occur. This wide range could send the price much lower in the event our pessimistic scenario is the one to be materialized. As a conclusion for our technical analysis for Tron in 2019, we estimate that the high volatility experienced in the cryptocurrency market in 2018 should continue in 2019. This high volatility makes the Tron predictions highly unpredictable.

All the opinions mentioned above about Tron price predictions should be taken only as informative. Only time will tell what the real price of Tron will be in 2019. 2018 proved a tough year for cryptocurrency. This does not mean that trends could change in 2019 without some pivotal developments.

Constantinople Delay Makes a Dent in Ethereum’s Price

Since Sunday, Jan. 20, $6 billion has been wiped from the cryptocurrency markets as Bitcoin is trading lower and dragging altcoins with it

Since Sunday, Jan. 20, $6 billion has been wiped from the cryptocurrency markets as Bitcoin is trading lower and dragging altcoins with it. The recent delay to Ethereum’s Constantinople hard fork brought further dismay and dragged the coin’s price lower, which also allowed Ripple’s XRP to widen the volume gap between the two digital assets.

Currently, there’s an almost $1 billion gap between XRP and ETH, with the former sitting at a 2nd place, just below Bitcoin and the latter occupying 3rd place, having dropped into technical support.

Chart Analysis – ETH/USD

At the time of writing Ethereum was down more than 5% in the last 24 hours, trading around 117 against the US Dollar and testing a key technical support level. In recent past, the pair has hit 117 twice and each time, it was rejected higher with force. This successfully established a double bottom price pattern, which is, in essence, a bullish formation, even more so when it occurs at the (potential) bottom of a downtrend.

It is important to note that now price is testing said level for the third time, so it can create a triple bottom, which would be an even stronger indication that a move up will follow. As a side note, the spike below 117 (a red candle with long lower wick) is just a result of market inconsistencies because it is not present on most other exchanges apart from Bitfinex.

If the pair cannot form the triple bottom, hence meaning that we are dealing with a break of the double bottom, the outlook will become strongly bearish because usually, a break of a strong formation gives way to extended moves.

Support zone: 117 – 115, 100

Resistance zone: 200 EMA (4-hour charts) and 134

Most likely scenario: high-risk trading, unclear until a bounce or break is obvious

Bitcoin Price Pressure Increases. Bounce or Break Scenario In Play

Bitcoin appears to disregard this alleged oversold condition and has traded lower over the weekend, testing the key support at $3500.

According to Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, “Bitcoin has been oversold”. He recently made the aforementioned statement during the Binance Blockchain Week event which is currently being held in Singapore (January 19 – 22).

However, Bitcoin appears to disregard this alleged oversold condition and has traded lower over the weekend, testing the key support at $3500.

Chart Analysis – BTC/USD

Currently trading around 3550, the pair has rebounded slightly after testing support at 3500 and is now showing a form of bullish divergence: the RSI is making a higher low while the price is making a double bottom.

This type of divergence is not as strong as the normal one (price is making a lower low and oscillator is making a higher low), but coupled with the double bottom at 3500, which is a bullish pattern, it can trigger upside movement.

The bullish triangle is broken to the downside, so before we can see any upside action, the price must return above the recently broken trend line. If that happens, we could see a climb into the 3700 area.

Bitcoin SV made news recently when it overtook the tenth spot in terms of cryptocurrency market cap. The token network is now worth about $1.35 billion and is likely to increase is worth in the coming months. Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Satoshi Version, is a hard-fork of the Bitcoin Cash blockchain that is giving its parent a run for its money. The BSV is meant to embody the vision of Bitcoin’s founder Satoshi Nakamoto and bring the power of currency back “to the people”.

The real purpose of BSV is to tackle four fundamental problems within the Bitcoin universe and that is where its value lies. These include stability, scalability, security, and safety; the caveat is that we’ve heard all this before, and didn’t those issues lead to Bitcoin’s previous hard-forks?

BSV/USD is under pressure, but the outlook is bullish

Like most cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin SV has been under pressure in the last few months. A lack of coherent regulation and uncertainty for blockchain’s future are largely to blame. The good news is that the token has been stabilizing near the $75 range where it appears to be well support.

In the near-term, the pair is facing good support at the bullish trend line seen on the chart below. This support is consistent with the horizontal level at 75 but may be broken in the next few days or weeks. The reason is BSV hasn’t shown any type of bullish pressure so it’s very likely to see a break of said support, en route to 70 and possibly the low at 65.

Such a move would be a buying opportunity. The token is a match for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, both trading well above the $75 or so we are seeing for BSV. A move up is likely to see BSV touch and surpass the $175 level (where Bitcoin Cash is trading) on its way to retest the all-time highs near $225.

Bitcoin SV (BSV) wallet could double up as authenticating device

In a recent Medium post, Craig Wright, Bitcoin SV’s biggest protagonist and chief scientist at nChain, outlined a new way of using BSV’s wallet: as an authenticating method for smart cards. The application focuses on “the use of electronic cards (“smart cards”) to facilitate secure, feasible, yet user-friendly system authentication through a Bitcoin (SV) wallet.”

According to Wright, the application will comply with AML/KYC rules and could be used to verify identity documents (passports, etc.) and to increase the security of payments and/or file encryption. When or if the application becomes usable, remains to be seen but if they manage to deliver a working version sooner rather than later, Bitcoin SV’s price will most likely be affected.

There is some risk to this token as it still new but we’re talking about cryptocurrency here, risk is the name of the game until the regulation is consistent around the world. When that comes you can expect to see this and most other major cryptocurrencies spike sharply higher.

Ripple News. XRP and Euro Exim Bank – A Match Made in Crypto Heaven?

Euro Exim Bank has recently joined the long list of Ripple partners and seems very happy about it

Euro Exim Bank has recently joined the long list of Ripple partners and seems very happy about it, hyping up their partnership and saying they are implementing both xCurrent (for payment processing) and xRapid (Ripple’s liquidity solution, using XRP).

Kaushik Punjani, the Director of the aforementioned bank had this to say: “Working collaboratively with Ripple and selected counterparts, we have designed, tested and are implementing both xCurrent and xRapid in record time, and we look forward to the benefits these will bring our customers.”

A few financial institutions are already using xRapid, but Euro Exim Bank is the first one with a banking license to get involved, so we will likely see a bit more movement on XRP charts soon.

Chart Analysis – XRP/USD

Ripple’s XRP is currently trading at 0.33 against the US dollar, down 9.50% for the last 7 days and up a mere 0.31% for the last 24 hours. It still holds the number 2 spot in rankings by market cap, albeit Ethereum is very close behind – both with a market cap of $13 billion at the time of writing.

The pair is trapped between 0.32 support and 0.35 resistance, having bounced perfectly at both levels. Although there’s no clear winner, the bulls seem to have the upper hand in the short term (bullish RSI, coming out of oversold, last strong move is up), so we may expect a break or at least another touch of 0.35. If a successful break occurs, the next target will become the 200 EMA on the 4-hour chart.